In the 1990 Christmas classic, Kevin McAllister defends his bourgeois home from incompetent burglars after his family accidentally goes on vacation without him. Though the film seems to be a tale of a child who struggles to be respected and loved by his family, the real tale is much darker. In the space of one and a half hours, we witness the reaffirmation of Reagan-style capitalism and the rejection of two dispossessed working class men. Material culture is taken to an extreme as Kevin devises numerous booby traps and pitfalls using products that can be bought at your local Home Depot. Kevin’s initial wariness of his elderly neighbor gives way to a bourgeois alliance as they work to ‘defend’ their wealthy neighborhood from grease-faced outsiders. We look on in false sentimentality as the McAllisters reunite in their implausibly rehabilitated home, while Harry and Marv’s failed attempt to enjoy at least some of their rightful wealth has put them on the path to a for-profit prison.
Home Alone: A Marxian Perspective
Home Alone: A Marxian Perspective
Home Alone: A Marxian Perspective
In the 1990 Christmas classic, Kevin McAllister defends his bourgeois home from incompetent burglars after his family accidentally goes on vacation without him. Though the film seems to be a tale of a child who struggles to be respected and loved by his family, the real tale is much darker. In the space of one and a half hours, we witness the reaffirmation of Reagan-style capitalism and the rejection of two dispossessed working class men. Material culture is taken to an extreme as Kevin devises numerous booby traps and pitfalls using products that can be bought at your local Home Depot. Kevin’s initial wariness of his elderly neighbor gives way to a bourgeois alliance as they work to ‘defend’ their wealthy neighborhood from grease-faced outsiders. We look on in false sentimentality as the McAllisters reunite in their implausibly rehabilitated home, while Harry and Marv’s failed attempt to enjoy at least some of their rightful wealth has put them on the path to a for-profit prison.